Review:Are You Experienced? is “one of the quintessential statements of psychedelic rock” NRR and “one of the most groundbreaking guitar albums of the rock era.” NRR Hendrix “expanded the sonic possibilities of the electric guitar” TL by doing things with the instrument “no one ever dreamed about trying.” DV

It wasn’t just his guitar prowess, but “the range and scope of sheer sound” AZ which made him a virtuoso. By “building upon the experiments of British innovators like Jeff Beck and Pete Townshend” AMG and “radical new techniques in feedback and distortion,” RV Hendrix knocked Eric “Clapton and Townshend right off their guitar-god pedestals.” BN

The album also established him “as an innovative and sophisticated composer” BN featuring “psychedelic frenzy…instrumental freak-out jams…[and] tender, poetic compositions” AMG all done with “his Dylanesque vocals and spacey imagery.” CD The songs “sound as revolutionary and as far beyond category today as they did the day they were recorded.” TL

Hendrix developed “at a rapid pace throughout…his brief career,” AMG but “never surpass[ed] his first LP in terms of consistently high quality.” AMG “These songs pound, smash, crack, whirl, cringe;” GS making this “one of the greatest and most important debuts in rock history.” RV